a hard path that led to a positive change!

by ruth
(tulsa, ok, US)

In this particular event, I don't think I was consciously trying to attract something, it just happened. During this time, I had a bad addiction to alcohol. I had thought of quitting before but it seemed like it was too hard to do. And of course, I made all of the usual excuses about why it wasn't possible for me to quit.

One spring night the weather was nice and I thought I might be able to save a little money if I turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows. I had been drinking as I had done every night back then. In my bedroom, the bed was next to the window. I stepped onto the bed to open the window and when I stepped off of the bed I must've turned my ankle because when I woke up, I was laying on the floor and had broken my arm in 4 places.

I went to the hospital where they decided I should stay there awhile. I was in traction for a week. My arm was in a cast for 12 weeks but it never healed correctly. In the meantime, I decided to switch to another doctor. The new doctor suggested that I have surgery so that some metal pieces could be put in my arm to hold it together.

About 3 months after the surgery on my arm, I slipped on a slick spot in a parking lot and broke my ankle in 4 places!! (This time I hadn't been drinking.) I could not believe it!! I just sat there for a few minutes thinking, what is going on? It was a clear sign that I needed to change my life but I didn't know how I would ever do it. My doctor told me that if I continued drinking, my ankle bones wouldn't grow together either. Since my arm was not completely healed, I wasn't able to use crutches. I spent the next several months in a wheelchair. And since I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, I made the decision to quit drinking. I told myself that I could stop drinking now and after the bones are healed, I could start drinking again.

But what I found out was that after I was healthier, I didn't want to go back to drinking! I didn't like doing something where I had such little control. Anyone who has ever been addicted to alcohol or any other substance knows that you don't control the addiction, the addiction controls you.

That was in 1991 and I haven't had a drink since! It was so completely effortless, I felt like I didn't do it at all! I had tried to quit before but could not give it up for more than 1 day. And what's even better, when I gave up drinking, it also enabled me to lose weight too! Andit too seemed completely effortless!! I lost a total of 75 lbs! I had also tried losing weight all throughout my life but was never able to stick to it. At one time I remember thinking, if I had known losing weight was this much fun I would have done it years ago!!